The Underground
by Inkgoddess
Summary: What could a small cluster of uninteresting rocks hold in store for the Saturdays? What connection does it have with the Kur stone and what did Zak find in the mind of a monster? Chapter 7 is up after a long hiatus.
1. Down Below

The Saturday's airship descended through dark clouds that threatened rain and towards a small mass of islands. Zak Saturday peered out from one of the windows and turned to his mother who was currently piloting the massive ship toward a small island.

"You mean we came all this way to see a big rock in the water?" He whined.

"Hun, these islands were referenced on one of the Kur stone pieces. We don't know how far Argost is right now and hopefully he hasn't figured out this portion."Drew quieted her sons' whining for a while. Sometimes traveling with an 11 year old with a short attention span could be more draining than the research itself.

Zak's uncle made an appearance as if his boredom had summoned his uncle. Usually he had a tale or two from his freelance days to tell, much to his brother in law's dismay and utter lack of belief.

"Little man, never judge a rock by its moss. I can remember a few years ago a mission I was on…" Doyle started and successfully held his nephew's attention while his sister finished landing procedures.

"I still find your stories to be about as truthful as a fiction novel." Solomon snorted. The tall dark skinned man walked in with his arms folded already prepared to combat the story with logic and science. Drew shot her husband a look and frowned at her younger brother.

"now now boys, let's be mature about this. We've got things to focus on." She remarked standing and hitting a lock on the console. As soon as she was out of her chair, the gorilla-cat dropped into her chair from above with a pair of goggles and an old aviation scarf and proceeded to pretend to drive. Drew chuckled at Fiskerton before bringing her attention to the mission at hand.

"Now we have, only the coordinates to this place and part of a phrase to work with. So let's get geared up and ready to look for something out of the ordinary." Doc spoke up; after being reminded that he had bigger fish to fry that his smart mouth brother in law.

"According to scans I took there are a series of tunnels and underground lakes. Apparently all these islands are connected to each other by these tunnels. So let's try and keep ourselves in one group and to not get too far ahead of ourselves."

"Yeah yeah, sis, don't worry. I've got a photographic memory, there's no way I can get lost. We'll be fine."

Doc was about to speak up before Zak cut in with a barrage of questions. The quarrel that would have been, was avoided and the family descended to the rocky shore below.

Zak and Fiskerton wandered a bit behind the adults chattering away about a video game that was waiting for them when they got home. Drew walked between her husband and her brother to keep them both on a short leash. She didn't enjoy their arguing and wished that both of them would put their issues behind them.

Suddenly Zak's voice rang out pointing out a steep entrance to one of the tunnels. A quick pat on the back by his uncle pleased him enough to focus a bit more on the task at hand. The cave was dark and smelled like low tide, but that didn't stop the family from venturing below. They had other concerns on their minds to be worried about a dark cave.

As they descended carvings and writing began to appear on the walls, Doc and Drew were immediately drawn into the writing and began translating.

"It looks like old druidic. If it is, it just seems to endlessly repeat the same phrase over and over. 'The wheels of war shall be locked under yellow eyes.' This doesn't make a bit of sense, and to be honest I've only seen this kind of writing only a few times in my life." Drew remarked.

"What if it's not druidic? It could be an older form of Sumerian, their dialect and writing system changes a lot in the earlier years."

"I don't think so, it doesn't seem to contain any of the usual patterns and the structure is way off."

In the meanwhile Doyle, Zak and Fiskerton had wandered a bit ahead. Obviously ignoring Drew's safety speech, Zak knew she'd yell after a few minutes, but he was enthralled by the writing which began to be more ornate and almost had a red glow to them.

"Why do ya think the letters are glowing?" Zak wondered aloud.

"Mer row" Fiskerton shrugged.

"Could be some of the creepy cryptid plant life your mom loves." Doyle remarked reaching out to touch one of the glowing characters. He almost immediately withdrew his hand when a loud howling sound broke the quiet and proceeded to quiet down almost as quickly as it had started. Zak who's curiosity had gotten the better of what should have been common sense to stay put and forged ahead to find a large chasm, the howling started again as he felt a rush of warm earthy smelling air blow past him. Fiskerton appeared behind him catching the last bits of the air and almost had a grin as the wind rushed through his thick fur.

"Wow now that's a drop and a half."Doyle commented walking toward the edge. The chasm looked bottomless from his point of view. Zak grabbed a stone and chucked it into the pit and listened for the bottom, he waited for a minute and crept closer to the edge almost waiting for his mother's sharp tone, but figuring she was currently busied with the character on the walls.

"Urow!" Fiskerton shouted into the pit and listened to his voice echo. Which sent Zak into a fit of giggles as he began to match his cryptid brother in the echo game, Doyle feeling the tug of curiosity took a quick sweep around the room and noticed what looked like a bridge across the large chasm, unfortunately it had large almost canine looking tracks that appeared to be fresh in the dirt. He bit his lip and glanced at his nephew who was currently burping the alphabet into the large chasm and listening to it echo back.

"Doc, where are the boys?" Drew blinked, looking up from a small notebook.

"I think they went a bit ahead, I think they found a large room. I hear Zak and Fiskerton making echoes, at least they're trying to do something science like. Or just behaving in general, they'll be fine Drew."

Zak had finally lost his steam and was now contented to observe the chasm and was rather awaiting the next gust of air to come up. He kicked in another rock and tried to hear it hit the bottom, he strained his ears and instead of hearing a rock hit the bottom of the pit from the other side of the open room he heard what sounded like glass shattering, followed by the sound of a chain being moved.

"What, what was that?"

"Ermow"

"What was what?" Doyle said looking to Zak.

"That sound it sounded like glass breaking…"

"Maybe you broke someone's window; man your mom is going to love that." Doyle snickered.

"No, I'm serious, listen..." he motioned to the other side of the room.

A clink of chains could be heard faintly, followed by a huff, the chain sound seemed to get louder and a growl was heard. The scraping of claws on stone was heard and then a dreadful howl filled the cave, which behind got the two scientists attention.

"That can't be good" Drew frowned and began to walk toward where her son had wandered off to.

A dark shape appeared on the rock formation that spanned across the chasm; it was 4 legged, big and frankly didn't look friendly. Chains that glowed with the same characters carved into the walls covered the beast's body. It looked like it was some sort of guard dog. Zak began to back away slowly and then that's when the beast snarled and lunged out, making a mad dash for the smaller target.

For a moment Zak considered running, but instead dropped his hand to the claw and felt the familiar surge of cryptid power through his body. He tried linking with the large beast's mind to calm it down, as soon as he felt a connection, he knew this was different from anything he'd encountered before, he heard a female voice, it was crying, she sounded hurt. The monster itself had come to a dead halt; the chains glowed brighter as its mind connected with Zak's.

"Calm down, we're not here to hurt you. You don't want to hurt us…"Zak spoke as evenly as he could, he could feel her emotions surging. Pain, anger and fear were most prominent, he could feel that she wasn't a true cryptid though, she was different. The monster's ears drooped and it started backing away, Doyle lowered his sticky goo based weapon and began to do the same.

"Come on Zak while it's confused…"he urged his nephew to break the connection and leave.

"Wait just a second, there's a person in here I think. In her mind, just give me a minute."

"Zak, I don't know how your powers work, but I think now is a good time to leave." He commented as the chains began glowing red hot. Suddenly the beast shook its head and broke the connection with Zak, he felt forced out of her mind and in a split second it charged him.

He took a few steps back and started to turn to run, his foot caught a rock and felt the painful twist of ankle. His parents emerged into the room just as the beast leapt into the air, fangs and claws pointed at Zak, as Doyle let two rounds of goo fly at the large beast threatening his new found family member and as Fiskerton dashed to his human brother to scoop him up out of harm's way.

"ZAK" his mother cried out in horror to the scene.

Zak reacted the only way he could at the moment, to pour on the cryptid power. And to try to find the human like thoughts he felt at first. As this all happened, the beasts chain seem to end and it hit the ground with a sickening thud, the chains still glowing red hot. The beast howling out in pain and trying to stand.

"Zak are you okay? Are you hurt?!"His mother cried running to her son who was lying on the ground

"Mom I'm fine. Just twisted my ankle that's all…She's hurt, she needs out of the chains. They're hurting her."

"No, no no. NO. There is no way I'm letting that thing get any closer to you. It tried to eat you if you haven't noticed."

"It's not a monster! There's a human mind in there. She's HURT." Zak repeated more forcefully and pushing himself up to stand and wriggled out of his mother's grip and moved closer to the monster, calling once again on his cryptid powers.

"I know there's a person in there…talk to me please."

The chains gave a shudder as the monster seem to get smaller and the fur and fangs began disappearing. The tight chains that glowed red hot began falling off the form that was changing in front of them. After a moment of almost animal like whimpering, a small sob came from the pile of chains. A human face appeared from the pile, followed by the rest of her. It was a girl, deep violet eyes filled with tears. Her skin was a faint blue color; darker spots were more noticeable as she pushed her way from the chains.

The marks Zak recognized as the same characters on the chains, they had been burned into her skin. Her clothing was a simple blue and white cloth wrap. She had finally broken free from the chains and fell to the ground, stifling another pain filled sob. She looked up dark hair curtaining her face.

"Th-thank you…"she gasped before falling unconscious.

The bewildered adults stared at the strange girl; she didn't look to be too old. Early 20s maybe, the strange blue skin and dark hair. What could she and this place have to do with Kur?


	2. History Lesson

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Azurvi: 3

An hour later after Zak had faced a snarling monster that turned into a girl, the same girl that had fallen unconscious, was beginning to wake up. She hadn't been moved or touched; for fear that whatever possessed her may return. The Saturdays stood poised to take action in the event of the monster returning or more coming to her aid.

Drew had been working into over drive while that hour had passed trying to translate the marks on her skin and the surrounding walls.

"Okay so the glowing is caused by a fine powder from a gem called 'curcium'. I haven't figured out why the chains are embedded with this gem. But on the chain there is another phrase repeating over and over. This one reads 'forever bound by the sin of the nation of your blood', now I'm not sure but it almost reads as an incantation. The characters in this room and on the chain are slightly different than the characters in the entrance, they read the same but at the same time they don't. I, I don't know. I've hit a brick wall here." Drew sighed tapping away at her personal hand held.

"Mom, I think she's starting to wake up!" Zak spoke up from behind his mother, he got up to get closer when her slim hand wrapped around his wrist.

"Hun let's hold off going near what may eat you."

"But mom she doesn't seem like she'd hurt anyone like this."

"We'll let your father decide on that."

The doc had moved a bit closer and nodded to Doyle who held up his wrist blaster and leveled it with the girl's now moving body.

She sat up slowly and rubbed her head and seemed surprised to see human limbs, in the place of fur covered ones. She didn't seem to notice the Saturdays yet, but appeared to be more interested in the burnt in characters on her skin.

Drew nodded to her husband who edged closer and got her attention.

"Excuse me, miss?"

The girl turned to him and drew her knees to her chest and presented the doc with a smile.

"Yes? What can I do for you?" A pleasant voice responded.

"You can start by explaining yourself. Like why are you here and why you attacked my son." Arms folded across his chest, feeling no threat from the small girl who stood and turned to face the family. Doyle lowered his wrist and frowned, still feeling like she could be a threat.

"My name is Azurvi Selos and I am here because I was condemned to guard the undoing of my people as punishment. Your son just disturbed one of the trip wires through the caverns. I do apologize and at the same time I wish to thank you once again. I have not been myself in ages, and it is a blessing to be released from the chains and the spell inscribed on them."

Drew cracked a smile to her husband, with a small 'I told you so' look in her eyes. Solomon tried to ignore his defeat and pressed the girl for more information.

"The 'undoing of your people' what is that exactly?"

"The well of eternity, was the center piece in the high temple of Atlantis, a place for healing, deep thought and tranquility. Unfortunately, greed coupled with a tyrant tainted the well and began to destroy us from within."

"Atlantis, I thought the city sunk after a storm." Zak piped up after hearing a name that had been thrown around a lot. Atlantis was not only on V.V. Argost's list of places to find, but his parents and the other secret scientists had argued where its ruins lay.

"Partly true, the destruction of the city is partially my fault."

"Just get on with the story will you?" Doyle quipped, feeling bored by her beating around the bush.

And so began the tale of Atlantis and its fall and disappearance from general history.

'In the golden age of Atlantis there was a great advance in our technology and the spiritual following of the people was unified. We were happy, things were managed through a council and with that council they found the well of eternity. Water straight from the deepest reservoirs in the earth, in such a pure state we found that it held healing properties when combined with the divine power of the priestesses.

My blood line has been sworn to follow the council and its high councilor, no questions, just to follow their requests. And in the golden age, that was fine and the people were happy with what we had. Unfortunately, a tyrant made a pact with a dark god called Kur and with the power that Kur granted him, he took over our nation island by island. This tyrant used creatures of terrible power, speed and strength to overthrow the council and killed off any that opposed him. He was not happy with the small space we occupied, he wanted more. He wanted the power, glory and riches that the rest of the world had to offer. My mother and I were the high priestesses at the time and with our blood being bound to the ruler of Atlantis, we could do nothing to oppose him lest we bring shame to our family name.

Nation by nation was either destroyed, or brought in by force to serve this mad man. My mother and I could only keep following his requests. To build crystal armor, weapons and even use our own power to destroy those that tried to oppose our country. The well had been tainted by Kur's dark power and the high emperor's thirst for glory, with the well being tainted the crystallize water we created objects on his request began to break easier. The people began turning away from the temple for its original purpose and just used it as an armory for the military.

With the world being set on fire by the tyrant, a large nation took a strike at our heart, the well itself and the madman who controlled the tainted power. Knowing that Circium can be used as a chemical to destroy us, they launched their attack on the main island. Killing many and made their way to the temple. The well water had been so badly tainted that nothing in the militaries armory worked, the high emperor called upon my mother and I and the other priestesses to use our power to defend him and the well. The emperor began sacrificing what he could to Kur begging for his life to spared, so that he could continue on with his conquest. Kur however refused to bring forth the beasts without a willing live sacrifice. With that he called upon my mother to throw herself into the well and to let Kur take her. Instead of the army that he once had, he sent one beast from the well. The beast was in a rage, and tore apart anyone that got remotely close to the well, but in time was destroyed by circium powder. It was then that I found out that my mother was the beast. When the others began falling victim of the circium, he called upon me, the last of the blood line to defend him. I was angry with this selfish man; I wanted nothing more to do with his war, with his lust for power. But my blood dictated that I had to follow his orders, no matter what I felt. With that final moment before throwing myself into the well, I made a prayer to the first god of Atlantis that my mother's life be avenged.

In my descent into the well I felt my body change, my mind began twist and I could feel that anger turn to rage and then to fury. When I emerged from the well, I took the first person nearest to me, which was the high emperor, then began to go through the hordes of invaders in my capitol. I couldn't stop; I could just hear the anger and rage in my mind with everything that had happened. I was caught finally and chained down by what you see before you. The inscription on the chains means that I had to pay for the sin of my nation and the madman that over took the council. I was to destroy what he had built up; island to island I traveled in my grotesque form, destroying all life and signs of living at all. I returned to the temple which had been leveled and slowly buried. I was hoping for a death, to join my mother, to be free from the pain and guilt. But instead I was locked to the well room, to be here to keep the well guarded from those that would use it again, to free Kur with the key from the water he tainted himself. And I have been frozen in time here, for a very long time. In the dark I remained a monster, fending off any that got close, unsure whether or not I was serving as Kur's guardian or serving the druids as my punishment." Azurvi finished her story, her chin resting on her knees.

"This key you spoke of, what is it exactly?" Doc spoke up.

"I can show you, if you would like."

"Anything would be a help to us right now."

"Please follow me, I can show you the well."

She side stepped the chain that laid across the stone bridge and led the family across the chasm and into another room where a dingy rock formation erupted from the center of the room. She stood behind the well and held her hands over the opening; a small stream of water bubbled up to her hands and floated mid air for a few seconds before hardening and forming into an inscribed shard.

"This would be the key I was talking about."

"This key is vital to be kept a secret and to be kept out of the wrong hands. I don't know if you could trust us or not, be we are trying to prevent Kur from returning ourselves." Drew said stepping forward.

"It would not matter as I can only keep the key in this form, if it is out of my hands, then it reverts back to its original form." Azurvi handed the key over to Drew who watched it melt back into water as soon as the priestess's fingers left the surface.

"So Argost would be after her, not the well, she's in danger then!" Zak suddenly spoke up, after putting 2 and 2 together. Zak's panic was met with bubbling laughter from Azurvi; she shook her head at him.

"I can fend for myself, I have for ages. It's really no problem."

"You don't understand, Argost will do whatever it takes to unlock Kur's tomb"

"And he has a pretty nasty way of dealing with those that refuse to cooperate." Doyle said grimly, remembering his narrow escape from that life.

She opened her mouth to protest with the family, she stopped after hearing a blast from another portion of the caverns.

"This is bad. We need to figure out what to do now." Doc sighed.

"I can take care of myself." Azurvi frowned and walked out of the room toward the blast, ready to take on whatever decided to invade her broken home.


	3. Trust

NeverVisible: And here you go :D

Allycat18: I shall try to keep updating, terrible writer's block lately.

CJZilla: thanks for the help 

Recommended listening: Burn it down-Alan Silverstri (Van Hellsing soundtrack)

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Azurvi Selos

---

Azurvi left the well room, feeling that she could trust the Saturdays, the smaller boy had brought her out of the monstrous form and for that she felt grateful. She clenched her fists together, listening to the chatter of a thick accent along with a smooth voice. They were talking about Kur, the dark god that had brought the end of her nation.

"This well had better be here, I turned down a job that was easy money. However I made an exception to a good customer."

"My dear Van Rook, the well of eternity would have to be here. Where else would the high temple of Atlantis be?"

"I'll have you know I care not for your history lessons. Just get on with this."

"The well is vital to the set of keys I'm looking for. I'd suggest you start searching, there is a rather unpleasant tide coming in and I doubt you want to try swimming down here."

Azurvi frowned, they were going to unlock Kur's tomb, bring back the terror that destroyed a nation. She wouldn't have that happen, not again.

Back in the well room, Doc was pulling on the power glove readying to put his plan into action. The plan was simple; destroy the opening to the well. Much to Drew's argument it was decided that as long as they water could not be reached, the key couldn't be made, which put the Atlantian girl out of danger and brought some comfort to the family.

"Finally for once we do things my way." Doyle held up his wrist based blaster and aimed at the ceiling above.

"Careful not to overdo it, we don't want the whole place to come down."

"Relax; I've got it all under control."

Doc rolled his eyes and in a blink of an eye a large rock from the ceiling was dropping and covered the well opening.

Azurvi was watching the ghostly man begin walking toward her followed by a larger man; the masked man had disappeared into another section of the caverns. She narrowed her eyes, she would not let Kur's tainted power rise again.

"Azurvi! What was that noise?" Zak spoke up being followed. Zak's question alerted Argost and Munya to her hiding spot.

"Ah the Saturdays and you've got a new friend too? I wasn't even expecting such a large welcome. Munya if you'd be so kind to give them my welcome, I have a well to find."

In an instant the family sprang into action as Munya transformed, grotesque spider legs emerged from his back. Azurvi hesitated unsure whether or not the monster would emerge once again if she started fighting. She didn't want to risk innocents; she would not have their blood on her hands. From behind her the ghostly skinned man appeared with a snarl on his face.

"I see the Saturdays have destroyed the well opening. I know you can retrieve the water from the well opening or not."

"Give me a reason to give you the key to Kur." She clenched her fists.

"You will wish you hadn't said that my dear." He chuckled darkly. "Munya, I could use a bargaining chip if you would."

With a grunt of acknowledgement Munya spat a large wad of web toward Zak who had dashed to help his mother, Fiskerton running after him letting out cries of warning. Zak reached for the claw to get out of the way quicker, but was quickly covered in a cocoon of web and being pulled towards Munya.

"I'd recommend you back away Saturdays, and listen to what I have to say. Have the Atlantian bring me the water and I'll let the boy go."

The Saturdays backed up toward a wall as Zak was now being hung kicking and yelling over the large chasm. Argost glided over to join his large servant and tossed a vial to the dark haired girl.

"The water if you please. I'm not a very patient man."

Azurvi narrowed her eyes and turned walking to the well; Doc put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't; give us a moment we can figure this out." He spoke calmly as his wife merely bit her lip trying to keep herself calm.

"I see his eyes, he'll drop him regardless. If you trust me, I can save him. I will not let innocent blood be spilled, not on my grounds. "

"We have no choice Doc. We need to just have faith." Drew spoke softly, wringing her hands together, Fiskerton patted her should trying to be comforting.

"I can save him. My life's work was the preservation of the life of others."

"I'm waiting and I don't think Munya can hold him much longer." Argost impatiently called out.

Azruvi waved her hand to the ghostly man as she continued to walk to the well room, finding a small crack she could smell the tainted water flowing below the rock covering. She held her hand over the crack and took a breath in, focusing her mind on the flow of water; slowly it stemmed up to her palm and began to flow into the vial. She pushed the topper on and walked out to the chasm room, she tossed the vial to Argost.

"Good my dear, I knew you'd see things my way." He cooed holding up the vial almost showing it off.

"Let the boy go back to his family, I've done my part."

"Yes Munya, let the boy go."

With a sick twisted smile over the monster's face, he opened his hand and let gravity do its job.

"ZAK" Drew screamed as Azurvi darted forward, a thin shard of crystal darted forward, shattering the vial in Argost's hand. Azurvi dived into the chasm and then all but silence was heard. Drew couldn't move, she had lost her son, her heart was breaking and in that moment of pain and agony she unsheathed her fire sword and ran at the two monsters, she wasn't going to let them live after this.

She stopped short of the bridge after feeling the ground shake, a loud howling noise followed by the sound of rushing water from the large hole in the ground could be heard.

"MIRFORMOR" Fiskerton yelled throwing his hands in the air to cover his head.

Water began to rise breaking the surface, with Azurvi and Zak standing on a crystallized platform. Zak dashed off when he saw he could get to water, running to his mother she wrapped her arms around him and then looked up she saw the Atlantian girl form twin swords in her hands, her face filled with anger and rage.

"You, you are your servant are now marked as enemies of Atlantis. Leave the temple now or face the consequences."

Argost merely sneered at her and ordered Munya to attack as he made his way back to the well room, he wouldn't leave without that water.

Azurvi snarled and lunged at Munya swords held high , the water now crystallizing under her feet and spreading. A quick slice and one of the spider's legs hit the ground, she turned and found herself face to fist with Munya's large hands, she was knocked back and rubbed her face. The swords had been shattered, but she wouldn't let that stop her. Doc turned to face Argost, who in turn tossed creeper vines to the ground, they began to grow and spread, cracking the rock floor. Water was now rushing in from all sides.

"Munya, I do believe we've worn out our welcome, time to depart. Munya snarled at the girl who'd sliced off his spider leg, but obediently left to cater to his master. They in turn disappeared to the back tunnels.

Azurvi stood up and wiggled her jaw around, finally taking note of the water rushing.

"We need to get out of here! There's too much water, the island is going to be submerged!"

Doc, Drew and Zak began their dash to the entrance they'd come in, Doyle and Fiskerton in tow. Azurvi took a quick look around knowing that she'd never see the place again and then ran after them. The arch began to crumble and fall apart as Zak dived through after his parents only to realize that both Fiskerton and his uncle were left behind along with the Atlantian that had saved his life.

"Mom, dad we have to go back, they're stuck." He said pounding on the wall of rubble.

"I know, we'll do the best we can." Doc replied pulling on his power glove and wound back his fist ready to smash the wall. He stopped just before hearing a small voice.

"Wait! Don't, if you break this the ceiling will fall." Azurvi's voice broke through the wall.

"Then how are we getting you guys out?" Zak yelled back, now fearing of losing both his uncle and brother.

"The islands are connected, I can get them to the biggest island. It's taller than the others and will not be flooded like the others."

"I don't like this, I don't at all. But we have no choice, do we Drew?" Doc dropped his arms now feeling helpless. He had to put his trust into the hands of an atlantian priestess, one he didn't know much about.

"She saved Zak, she can do it again for Fiskerton and Doyle." Drew placed a hand on Doc's shoulder.

"Fine, we'll meet you at the biggest island. Please don't let us down."

"You have my word as a priestess." The atlantian responded to the worried family.

And the two parties departed, Solomon, Drew and Zak to the zeppelin; Fiskerton, Doyle and Azurvi to the other tunnels, Fiskerton muttered softly giving the blocked entrance a sad look.

"Hey, don't look so depressed. We'll see them again." Doyle offered some comfort to the Gorilla-cat.

"We need to hurry so I can seal off tunnels before they fill too much." Azurvi said gesturing to across the chasm.


	4. Tunneling

NeverVisible: Glad you're enjoying this. I'm having a lot of fun writing it.

Recommended listening: A Family Affair-Hans Zimmer (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest), Nirvana Beyond Stupidity(Alucard's Theme)-Tsuneo Imahori (Hellsing OST)

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Azurvi and her nation's gods.. :3

---

Fiskerton and Doyle followed the priestess to a section of crystallized wall and stopped for a moment, frowning at it.

"You need that opened? I've got the key right here."He said raising his wrist blaster.

"No need for brute force, I merely need to remember the process. It's been a long time since I've had human thoughts."

"Can we hurry this process up maybe? I'd rather not drown today."

"Ah yes, that is the way." Azurvi ignored Doyle's quipping as the wall melted down to water.

"How does that help? It added more water to the cavern."

"It opens the tunnels, quickly before they flood with too much water for me to manage."

You need not to tell the gorilla-cat twice as he scrambled through the opening followed by Doyle who shook his head, Azurvi stepped through and with a soft movement from her hands the crystal wall built up from the water on the floor.

"See I needed to just remember, that is all."

"You remember how to get to the bigger island, there are 5 different tunnels. Please tell me you remember this."

"Please do not fuss, I can read my own people's writing. That is all you need to know really and maybe how to solve a few riddles. These tunnels were meant for the council to escape to the outer rims of the city, not everyone was meant to read the writing."

"Great, riddles and mazes. All we need now is Doc down here."

"Pardon me?"

"It's a joke, about my brother in law."

"The taller man, I see." She nodded and then moved forward down a middle tunnel. "Please keep up, I have to seal off the tunnels on occasion, the water may break through that wall I just built."

Fiskerton picked up his pace, dragging Doyle behind him to keep up with the Atlantian. They took in their surroundings finally noticing that the ground was dirt and rock while the walls reflected a soft glow coming from the crystal embedded into them.

"So what powers these anyways, magic or something to that extent?"

"No, magic is not the answer to it all. They are sun crystals, a gift given to us by a race you would call, what is the word in English? Oh, Aztecs, that sounds about right. In our golden ages we traded with many cultures and collected many valuable things for our nation."

"Then what about the water powers?" Fiskerton made a small grunt to promote his own curiousness to this power.

"That is a gift given to us from the Gods; each priestess must undergo training and a lengthy process to gain this gift. Also you must pick your guidance, what god you serve under specifically. Some choose the oath of healing, under the god Urth. There is the path of spirit under the god, Miran; and there is always the way of the warrior, a path picked by very few and those that pick that path are allowed to be trained as a high priestess. My mother choose this path and so did I. We served the god Selciti, who was seen as the high god of the other gods and creator of Atlantis."

"Sounds like Greek and Roman mythology to me." Doyle snorted.

"They had it partially right, wrong names though. But they close enough."

"Ermow." Fiskerton mused at the next set of passageways.

"No need to worry, the writing is clear. 'The bird of stone flies high on skies of melted rock.'" Azurvi read the riddle aloud.

"What, does that even mean?" Doyle sighed wanting to beat his head off of a wall. How could he even trust her, she was bent on keeping his weapon usage to a minimum. He wasn't comfortable with this idea.

"It's simple; it means to take the passage way that was a carved by the volcano."

"You mean there is a volcano around here?"

"Yes, the big island is a dormant volcano. Did you not know that?"

"No and that is very disturbing." Doyle was backed up by a whimper from the gorilla-cat.

"Dormant for thousands of years, it is not scheduled to go off for another 55 years." Azurvi stated ushering the two through the opening and continuing to seal the entrance off.

"How do you even know that? We could be crispy at any time!"

"Because we Atlantians understood the mechanics and workings of the earth far better than any other nation or race, we've existed for a long time and have had time to study the earth and its workings."

"I have no choice do I?" Doyle sighed heavy, looking to Fiskerton. Fiskerton merely shrugged and pushed Doyle ahead of him as if for protection from the priestess or lava that could come flowing at any time.

Doyle swatted Fiskerton's hands from his shoulders and moved forward, his eyes on Azurvi for sudden movements. He now noticed the style of her dress, it was backless and for a blue skinned girl she was attractive, but he shoved his male thoughts quickly aside and began to focus on something other than that.

"Sweet tats." He commented

"The tattoos are given to you as you progress through your training, I assure you they are not there for cosmetic purposes. They are there as a sign of my rank and power, they show that I am a high priestess and what family I come from." Azurvi snorted.

Doyle left the girl to her thoughts as she translated another wall text and led them down another tunnel and sealed it. A process that repeated for nearly two hours, Doyle was not enjoying the seemingly endless tunnels and riddles.

"Are we going to arrive at any time before I'm dead?" A sarcastic and biting tone filled his voice.

"We are almost there, one more to go and then we'll be in the main hall of the temple."

Fiskerton gave a small cheer with these words and picked up the pace, not feeling any fear of the smaller girl any more.

"You are a strange creature, what are you exactly?" Azurvi tilted her head to look at Fiskerton.

"He would be a gorilla-cat, at least according to Zak."

"Zak is the boy and the woman?" Azurvi piqued her interest in the family now that it was mentioned.

"Drew, my sister and married to the egg head Doc."

"I understand now." A simple response was spoken before she fell back into silence.

The last bit of the walk was uphill and another wall was in place, the familiar movement from her hands allowed the crystal to melt into water and open up to a large room with cathedral ceilings and the scene of a fight, between the three Saturdays and large monsters, much like what Azurvi had been.

"Now I get to shoot stuff!" A wicked grin came from Doyle as he sprinted forward to help his family with Fiskerton shouting behind him.

---

I also apologize for a short chapter, I had this conversation between Azurvi and Doyle in mind and I really couldn't expand it anymore and I only have half of chapter 5 written right now. -InkGoddess


	5. 1 of 2

ArtmisHowl: You'll have to keep reading to find out :3 and I think he will return he's an interesting character.

Recommended listening: Apocalyptica-Fatal Error , Martin O'Donnell-Behold A Pale Horse (Halo 3 OST), Various-Welcome To Silent Hill (Silent Hill Movie OST), Bluetech- Oleanander (Phutureprimitive mix)

----

Azurvi recognized the monsters, Kur's gift to the high emperor, war beasts; terrible fangs and claws that never dulled. Speed like no other, these were the elite guard of the high emperor's troops. Why they were in the temple was beyond her knowledge, but she knew in her heart that this was wrong. Their presence shouldn't be even allowed to pass the threshold.

"I see you took the long way my dear." A ghostly voice appeared next to her, Azurvi turned her head in disgust to see the small pale man holding a vial of the well water.

"How did you get that?"

"You'd be amazed at my resources. What's even more amazing is that these glorious cryptids obey me, just with this vial of water. Now I know that you'll tell me where the other half of the key is, or else these 'innocents' as you call them, will pay for your stubbornness."

"Even I don't know that, I was not informed of other half. My job was to protect the Atlantians."

"Which you failed at accomplishing, I will repeat myself again. I am not a patient man; I would like to know where the other half is."

"Never again shall I allow Kur's dark power to rise."

"Spare me the heroics." Argost avoided a few shards of crystal and laughed as one bounced off the vial. "Learn from your past mistakes, I won't make it so easy to shatter this time."

The priestess growled and tried to keep her attention on the man, but with the sounds of battle and shouts of the Saturdays now becoming clearer that they were losing this fight, she clenched her fists and sighed.

"The half of the key lies in the bull's pit, center and below. That is the only phrase we were allowed to know, now call them off!"

"You are such a demanding girl, fine I shall let the beasts go about their business. Which I do believe they are VERY hungry, I hope you have a snack ready." The pale man faded into the shadows and soon a roar of an airship was heard.

"Zak get back!" his mother shouted lowering the sword to blast one of the monsters that bore down on the family.

"I'm starting to run out of ammo here!" Doyle shouted, narrowly avoided losing his head to a pair of sharp claws.

"Azurvi, you're the priestess, you should know how to fix this."

Azurvi in truth did not know how to stop the onslaught of monsters that seem to come from nowhere, she bit her lip getting ready to run into the fight and do all she could when the light reflected off one of the walls.

"What is this?"She mused reaching out to it, the light glowed brighter. "A shrine….to Selciti, of course."

With a quick movement she dropped the only thing of value she owned, a silver bracelet that belonged to her mother. Pushing it before the mirror, trying to block the shouts of the panicked family and focusing on the glow and the soft voice.

"Great god of Atlantis, Selciti, your servant Azurvi Selos, 4th house in the moon; calls upon your help, please, let me help the family. They are preserving the balance like you did so long ago. I beg of you, take my last valuable, my last precious memory and save them."

"My child, a heart of pure intent I feel. I grant you free from the curse and mastery over your other self. Use this wisely." The voice boomed through the temple

The room glowed brighter and brighter, causing the war beasts to cower away from the Saturdays, the people to close their eyes and wonder what else this ancient site held in store. Life? Death? Salvation? What had happened to the priestess? Had she reverted back to her monstrous self?

Zak yelled for his family and Azurvi, the war beasts snarled wildly as the light faded and revealed another beast. It was bigger , covered in snow white fur, the same fangs and claws as the other ones, but this one seemed to target the wild ones.

"This might be an alpha female, this could be bad." Drew said pushing her son behind herself and trying to figure away to back out without alerting anything to their movements.

"It seems to be very territorial, or it's protecting something."

"Yeah it's dinner." Doyle snorted checking his wrist blaster to stock how much he had left. "I've got probably another 2 minutes worth of ammo, we could probably make a break for the door."

"What about Azurvi? We can't leave her here! She could be hurt." Zak spoke up frustrated.

"He's got a point, we can't leave her. And she may have more knowledge of Kur and his tomb than we do." Doc said frowning.

"How do we find her?"

"I'm not sure-WATCH OUT!" Doc pushed his family out of the way as a monster was thrown against the wall cracked the marble. A loud howl filled the room, they took notice that the larger cryptid had won the fight.

"We may want to regroup and come back, it's fended off its competition it's not going to wait long before it samples the winnings." Doyle said backing up with the rest of them. Fiskerton squeaked as the cryptid put its face closer, pulling Zak on his shoulders and getting ready to make a bolt for the zeppelin.

The cryptid almost chuckled and sat down before the family, tail wrapping around its feet.

"Guys, I think…that is Azurvi." Zak said leaning forward to touch the large nose before him. Fiskerton mumbled something almost inaudible to the group. "Its fine Fisk, its Azurvi, I'm sure of it." His hand finally made contact with the damp nose and with that he felt the cryptid power involuntarily activate and link with the mind of the white wolf cryptid.

"I'm glad you aren't afraid." Azurvi's voice rang through his mind.

"How did this happen? What happened to the other monster?"

"Gone, freed by the power of Selciti. My mind is clear now and I have grave news, the pale man, Argost will soon be heading to the island of Crete, to find the other half of the key. One half was hidden here in the water and the other half within the walls of the labyrinth."

"Then we need to go and get there before he does. If he gets both halves, he'll be closer to releasing Kur. "

"Something the world does not need again."

"I know, do you know where in the labyrinth the other half is?"

"Only that it lies in the bull's pit. That is the only thing we were allowed to know when they key was broken."

The link broke and the wolf disappeared in a flash of light and revealed Azurvi, her skin still covered in characters, but they had changed from the druidic character to the ornate flowing characters of the Atlantians. Her face looked different, clearer, and less afraid of herself.

"I apologize Saturdays, for the scare. My intention was to protect you from Kur's evil in the temple. It has been defiled which allowed the evil to gain power from the temple."

"Tell them, what you told me, about Crete."

"Argost has the water, I know not how he obtained it, but unfortunately he does have half of the key. The other half is in Crete, deep in the labyrinth in the bull's pit. If he gets that key, he's too close for my own personal comfort to unlocking Kur's tomb, releasing unspeakable evil upon the lands and seas again."

"That is disturbing, we need to get ahead of him as soon as possible. We can't let Kur's tomb be opened." Doc scratched his chin.

"My request is, that you allow me to help. I feel like I have failed in my duties here, and I need to right them."

Doc and Drew looked at each other, she did save their lives and Zak's life. Could they really have the heart to leave her on the island, not knowing if the cryptids that they fought off would come back for revenge and territory fights?

"Come on! We OWE HER." Zak shouted, Fiskerton nodded and patted her shoulder.

"It's true, if it weren't for her we'd either be drowning or stuck in those tunnels."

"See dad? Even Doyle thinks she should come with us."

"I can't leave her here either" Drew said softly, feeling a pull at her heart. She knew deep inside the old temple she could feel the impression of a mother still in the room, urging the family to save her daughter.

"Well I guess it's settled, besides, you are a living artifact. You hold secrets of the past that not even the most hopeful could hope for."

"So she can come?"Zak's eyes lit up.

"Yes honey, she can come."

"I promise you, you will not regret this decision. I will provide all the knowledge I have that I can."

"Then we'd better get moving, Argost could get ahead of us by now."

Drew and Doc turned and jogged for the zeppelin, followed by Fiskerton with Zak and Doyle behind. Doyle turned to see the priestess still standing in the temple, looking longingly at the walls and remembering her people and her culture.

"Hey, if you don't hurry up, we'll leave you." Doyle shouted jokingly. Azurvi turned and gave him a small smile and dashed toward the family.

"No worries, we wouldn't leave you."Zak yelled back at her.

The zeppelin was an amazing sight for someone who hadn't seen technology like this before, her bare feet felt the coldness of the metal ramp.

"Amazing, you can actually fly in this?" Azurvi's voice was filled with a sense of wonder as she walked carefully around the room and was soon greeted by Komodo and Zon.

"This is the rest of my family, the lizard is Komodo and the Ornithocheirous is Zon." Zak introduced his family's odd collection of pets.

Komodo flicked his tongue at her and merely found little interest as she had no treats or toys, Zon however had her eye on the girl and finally waddled away to find the bucket of fish that was usually kept on board.

"They'll get used to you, don't worry."Zak offered as the girl continued to see what she had missed out on after all these years.

"This is far beyond what I could have even imagined." She observed the flashing lights and soft sounds the ship made as it began to ascend into the sky.

"To think if my mother were here to see this, flying in a vehicle."

"Atlantians didn't have flying cars?" Doyle arched his eyebrows.

"No, we couldn't fly, well glide yes if you knew the right techniques, but flying no."

"So Atlantis wasn't this super futuristic nation?"

"No I'm sorry to disappoint you. Though we were more advanced than some of the other human nations. So I can guess that is where the lore came from." Azurvi shrugged and looked out the window and out at the clouds.

"Hang on, we're going to make a straight trip to Crete and hopefully beat Argost there." Doc was heard calling to those still standing, Zak dove into his chair.

"Sorry, but there's only so many seats." The 11 year old apologized.

"I am not afraid, but I would avoid going directly north east. I sense a storm in that region."

"Thanks for the heads up." Drew called "Now hang on this may be a little rough."

Doyle stood next to her his hands on the railing and looking out of the window as the clouds zoomed by and soon thickened as they rose in altitude.

"For someone who is just now experiencing flight, you don't seem freaked out by this."

"I may be from an ancient culture, but I am not afraid of modernized things" Azurvi frowned at the red head.

"Azu- can I just call you Vi? It's easier to pronounce."

"You may, my family called me that."

"But Vi, you act like you know that this is already safe. You don't know, we could fall out of the sky."

"Doyle stop scaring her." Drew shot her brother a look.

"Priestesses are privileged to see the future at some point. I have faith in this machine like I had faith that I wouldn't be lost to a monster's mind so many ages ago."

A soft smile crept across her face, leaving Doyle feeling confused, he fell silent meandering off in his defeat as Vi continued to look out the window. She was soon joined by Zak as soon as they got to traveling altitude who now was asking a million questions a minute.


	6. Maze

NeverVisible: glad you liked it :)

I own nothing but Azurvi, and her culture.

---

The storm had moved into their flight path, slowing down the massive airship and making the Saturdays anxious to move forward.

Zak however was still fascinated by the atlantian priestess and her power over water, during some of her demonstration she had gotten the attention of Solomon who was watching her slide a small ball of water around herself, splatter to the ground and then reform and roll around.

"That is incredible; I don't think I've come across anyone or anything that can do that."

"Dad that has to be the coolest thing ever, she rocks!"

Solomon smiled at his son's enthusiasm and noted his brother in law joining the group.

"She really is something, ancient, still looks the same as she did the day she threw herself into the well to obey a direct order."

"She's powerful too, the ability to control water and to change it into a projectile, plus I cross referenced her when she was changed in the temple she can change into the form of an Amarok. This leads me to wonder how the Atlantians came across the species."

"She said during the dark ages that Kur was the leading god, so that may have something to do with it. We really don't know that much about Kur and what he can do."

"But this is also a good thing right? Her being around the time when Kur was the leading god, she could possibly be able to understand more from the stone than we can."

"True, but it's hard to tell whether or not she'd be willing to translate anything at all. She may request to go back to the islands and live out the rest of her life guarding the empty temple."

"Why would she want to be alone?"

"She's a priestess and her duty is to guard and care for the temple. She appears to have a very strict set of rules for herself and following them is the most important thing to her, even if that means spending the rest of her life alone."

The zeppelin slowed and a slight change in air pressure could be felt, this was strange to Solomon, he didn't think they'd be there already.

"Drew are we there already?"

"No I can't get through the storm anymore without putting us in danger. Crete is the next island over; I imagine this storm slowed Argost down too, so we may actually be ahead right now."

Azurvi stood and checked her surroundings, the ball of water suddenly splattered to the ground when she lost focus of it.

"We are here, the original part of Crete; this is the entrance the Atlantians used to send their criminals. It's a bit more dangerous, but it puts us closer to the Bull's Pit. And I honestly don't know if the monster that Kur provided is still there or how many might be. It's uncertain on how many beasts he sent to the island."

"Zak, you're staying here." Drew said leaving the console to join the conversation.

"But mom, come on! She said she doesn't know if they're still here or not."

"I'm not risking your life on something that isn't certain."

"I actually don't know if they got out or what. It's hard to tell after all this time. Things have obviously changed if this part isn't connected to Crete anymore."

"I'd feel better if Zak and Fiskerton stayed here."

"You guys get to go find the other half of the key and I get to sit and watch a storm, that's hardly fair."

"Storms can reveal the most interesting of things; I'd keep an eye on the storm if I were you."

"I promise we won't be gone long, just in and out and back home."

Zak sighed; feeling defeated by the surrounding arguments and flopped back into his chair. He was pouting and his parents knew it. They felt bad about leaving him behind, but at the same time they worried about his safety and wished that he could see things from their point of view. His father patted him on the shoulder.

"We just want you to be safe, that's all."

"But I can take care of myself-"Zak began his protest again only to be silenced by his uncle.

"Honestly little man I agree with your folks. I can't lose my only nephew."

Zak sighed deeply and leaned back in the chair. "Fine, fine, I'll stay here."

The adults began their trek into the maze while Zak stared at the window and watching the storm pick up and send more water plummeting to the earth. Fiskerton wandered around the room, humming a little song.

"Fisk this isn't fair. They always get to go do the cool stuff and I get left behind."

"Firmosafur?"

"I know I know, but just once I'd like to actually be there when the action starts, not wind up in the middle of it or even worse, the end."

Fiskerton gave his brother a smile and a pat on the head and pointed out the window to watch the storm, as per Azurvi's advice.

It seemed like a regular storm, just sheets of rain falling from the dark skies above, the occasional streak of lightning followed by a thunder clap. Zak sighed and put his forehead down on his arms, trying to forget the feeling of being left behind.

In the labyrinth the adults had actually managed to get pretty far without much of a problem, until a very sticky situation suddenly presented itself.

"Oh sick what did I just step in?" Doyle's voice rang out in disgust.

"Looks like drool…" smirked his brother in law.

"That can't be a good sign, which means there's still something down here." Drew said unsheathing her fire sword.

Heavy breathing was heard in the distance, followed by the sound of hooves on the ground which became louder by the minute.

"Get ready; this isn't going to be pretty." Azurvi formed two swords in her hands from the surrounding water. A roar of the power glove and the click of a wrist blaster = followed as the swords finished their curved form.

Meanwhile outside the massive airship was getting pounded with rain, but the darkness that the storm brought hid a dark figure closing in. Komodo growled face now pressed against the window, causing Zak to take note of Komodo sudden aggression.

"What's wrong? Is the storm bothering you?"

The large reptile hissed backing slightly away from the window as Zak approached it, suddenly the window got darker and then shattered as a figure rolled into the bridge; Fiskerton shrieked and ducked for cover, Zak backed away and suddenly found himself face down and getting dragged toward the window.

"Let me GO!"

"Silence brat, I need you for one thing and one thing only. I need you to do whatever it is you do with these animals so I can get paid." A thick Russian accent was heard.

"Van Rook! I'll never help you!"

"You'll change your song as soon as you know the following; your cryptid zoo friends will not like the outcome of your attitude, plus your parents could probably benefit from you at the moment, unless you're looking forward to being an orphan."

Zak bit his lip, Van Rook was right…he was threatening his family on all fronts. He had no choice at the moment.

"Fine, you don't need to drag me though."

"I thought you'd change your mind."

With a split second Zak was freed from the binds on his leg to only be roughly grabbed and disappeared into the dark surroundings. He was being taken into the labyrinth, a small tingle of excitement filled him, but at the same time a small fear grew thinking of the fate of his family.

He soon realized his purpose when a large bull squared off with them.

"Get rid of it."

Zak didn't question the mercenary but called upon the power inside of him and calmed the mind of the creature; it huffed off in another direction. Zak had to do this a few more times before he and his captor entered a large room filled with bones, a chill ran up his spine as the Russian man approached a large inlay of what appeared to be human bone in a wall and crushed a cavity and took a glittering gem from within.

"You got what you wanted, now what?" Zak now felt a pinch of nervousness.

"I leave."

"What about the rest of the monsters."

"They'll be too preoccupied with their dinner."

Zak growled knowing exactly what the man was talking about and threw himself at the burly man, the sudden movement caught Van Rook off guard and the two went tumbling through the same spot the man had seized the jewel from.

The scene before Zak was intense, his parents and uncle fighting off more of the Bulls and Azurvi leaping around avoiding the long horns that threatened to skewer her. Zak tore his eyes from the fight and looked down at the mercenary and saw an opportunity to grab the jewel and make a run for it.

"Zak! What are you doing here?" His mother's frantic voice called out.

"Long story mom, I'll explain later."

Zak made a grab for his claw which Van Rook had grabbed from him the last couple times and then tried to fend off some of the bulls only to feel tired as the roaring minds echoed through his own. He looked up as Azurvi pinned one and held one of her swords to the throat of the creature.

"And now monster you die."

"STOP, they're just scared. They're protecting something."

"The jewel, what they were all sent her for." Her lip curled as she readied her blade to plunge deep within the monster.

Zak did the first thing he could think of, which was try his cryptid powers on her, it had worked once before, maybe he could snap her out of it. But he didn't count on what happened next, the gem in his hand glowed and became hot, yet he couldn't let go, his mind began to combine with Azurvi, the beast howled in an animalistic fury.

Azurvi began to change, but it wasn't complete, almost like a were-wolf, but those you just saw in movies, right? Zak's mind began to spin as he saw through her eyes, her process of marking targets and beginning her attack, the swords returned to their liquid form as she then tore into a bull in front of her. Suddenly his view from her eyes changed, he was seeing her life, in rewind, a quick rewind for that matter. Emotions and words began to flow through him, he felt sick to his stomach and dizzy to boot.

"Zak, Zak! Drop the stone!"

He never heard his father yelling to him, just feeling the memories of Azurvi.

"Azurvi stop! There's something wrong."

Azurvi didn't hear the voice of Drew either, just felt the fury of the animal inside take over all human feelings.

The bulls retreated and Azurvi was about to go after them, a screaming howl signaling the hunt, but stopped short as the gem was pried from Zak's hand. She suddenly felt the rush of human feelings and her mind came back to her, she looked at her bloody hands and muffled a shriek and turned to see an unconscious Zak surrounded by his family, the mercenary had disappeared in the mess.

Azurvi could only now feel a guilty sorrow creep into her as the eyes of a hurt mother were turned to her.

"I-I'm so sorry"

"We need to get him out of here." An uneven voice from Solomon was heard.

Doyle said nothing but only looked at the Atlantian priestess and sighed.

Azurvi then took off into the maze, bloody foot prints leading off to a dark part of the maze. Doyle felt a pang of guilt, for not saying anything to her. But what had happened to his nephew he was unsure whether or not this would be survivable.

-------------------------------

Sorry for the delay and the cliff hanger. I will work on some more later 33


	7. A monster with more control

Bloody foot prints trailed off to a darkened portion of the maze leaving the Saturday's alone, Solomon scooped his unconscious son up in his arms, his worried wife looking up at him. Self blame filled her eyes, she let her gaze wander to the tunnel Azurvi had disappeared into.

"It's not your fault Drew, we had no idea van rook-"

"I know, I can't help but want to quit my job when times like these come across."

"Look, I don't think it was anyone's fault. We just find Azurvi and have her reverse the process with the stone." Doyle pipped up attempting to cheer the somber party up.

"Look for her if you will, I don't feel comfortable just wandering around here with him. It's too dangerous without any sense of back up. Besides we don't know if she's reverted to what was in the cave or if she can even reverse the process." Solomon spoke as calmly as he could to his over eager brother in law.

"She is as much a part of the kur stone mystery as she is to why he's like this. She has to know something." Doyle shrugged and made his way toward the tunnel with foot prints.

"Please stay in contact, we don't want anything else to happen."Drew spoke quietly.

"Don't worry sis, I'll be fine. Zak will be fine."

The two scientists made their way back to the entrance as the former mercenary made his way down the tunnel that could be leading to his death. That thought was in the back of his mind, the beasts that lived in here were vicious, a pattern he'd began to take note with any creature closely involved with Kur.

The tunnel smelled of blood and death, both old and decomposing to the fresh scent of iron tinged blood. The foot prints occasionally skipped from where she'd jumped a creature and torn into it, blood pools getting more frequent as he traversed down the eerily silent tunnel, each carcass he came across began to paint a more grotesque picture of the uncontrolled power that lived inside the small woman. He couldn't help but feel afraid of her and what her actions would be. Would he have to fire on her? Would he have to essentially end her, to get Zak back? These questions floated through his mind as he side stepped a few fresh corpses, some of the corpses looked unfamiliar from the long horned creatures they were fighting off earlier, were these just as aggressive or were they creatures that merely wished to be alone?

His thoughts began to wander as he followed the trail of bodies to a large open room where a slaughter lay before him. Could this have been the nest of the unfamiliar creatures and if so why the need for the death and destruction. He felt his fist tighten as he imagined these creatures helpless before her, if he had to, he'd end her. For the world and for her sake, he remembered the look of relief when she first changed back into a human like form, to feel humanity and to feel like she had some control over herself. He didn't want her to feel that pain of knowing what she did and not be able to stop.

He took note of the separating passage ways and the footprints going in and out of the tunnels, if she had disappeared into one of them, she'd be hard to track at this point. He simply called out to her hoping that a shred of humanity was left.

"Vi?"

Then he heard the growl from a side tunnel and a scrape of claws against stone. Azurvi in her monstrous form emerged covered in bloody, the half snout revealing a fang that was stained pink. However fearsome and vicious she may have looked, her eyes were the eyes of a soul crying, someone feeling the deepest regret that one person could even feel.

"Vi I know you're there. What happened to Zak, I know you can fix this some how."

"The stone....combined with living crystal, will wake." The words came out broken and forced, her animal form pushing for control.

"Where do I find that?" he was feeling threatened now, her eyes were beginning to change from sorrow to a predator's eyes. She stepped forward, a clawed hand flexing around a stone jutting out of the wall.

"Priestesssss..."The word was lost in a growl and she lunged forward toward Doyle, fangs aimed for his juglar.

Doyle had little time to react, she was faster like this than she had been before. He barely rolled out of the way before she was rebounding and lunging for him again. This time he had time to move and attempted to talk some sense into her.

"Vi, look, you're not LIKE this. You said yourself, you were a priestess, you were supposed to protect lif-" Doyle was cut short as a slim crystal shard pierced his shoulder.

"See? I knew you were in there some where, look you can still throw these things. Which means the real you is somewhere inside of that."he winced, that crystal hurt a lot more than he thought it would.

Azurvi stood over him a clawed hand reached down and grabbed him, lifting him in the air. The snarl in the back of her throat threatened his end. He had to try, one more time.

"Azurvi, come on. Your mother gave her life and here you are, subcoming to the very thing that got her killed. You are better than that. Honor her damnit!" he shouted as he swung for her. His fist made contact wit the side of her blood caked face and forced her to let go of him. She backed up against a wall, watching the hair from her drop off like some sort of bizzare speed shedding, her hands got smaller and more well formed. She now looked like she was supposed to, a young priestess.

"Doyle! I'm so sorry! Please let me help."she cried dashing over to him, liquifying the barbed crystal she'd embedded in his shoulder.

"I'm okay, I'm just glad you're thinking humane thoughts again. I was nearly dinner." He gave a weak smile attempting to keep the situation under control.

"And Zak, they'll never forgive me for that. I nearly killed him. That diving into one's mind is difficult for even the most skilled, but to dive into my soul. I don't know what he was thinking."

"He was trying to protect a cryptid."

"I am as much of a monster as I am with the extra hair. I just have more control." Azurvi sighed looking to her hands which still had splotches of blood on her pale blue skin. Doyle stood up testing his balance before letting go of stalactite.

"Look, I'm not condoning what you have done and tried to do just now, but beating yourself up isn't going to help anyone, including yourself."

"You're right, I need to fix what I can." She sighed wishing she could push out the memories of her ruthless killing which still played fresh in her mind..

"We need to get going. I don't want something to trigger you back to whatever that thing was, I don't want to have to hurt you or something worse." Azurvi nodded quietly to him "Good thing I brought the jet pack. Do you mind if I carry you? We'll get out a lot faster." He was beginning to feel edgy, the room was beginning to feel unpleasant and oppressive.

"I don't mind..."

Doyle scooped her up and with a quick push he was off in the air, following the same path he had taken tracking her down and paused at the cross roads where the whole thing had started.

"Go south and then go east then continue south til you can go east again. Keep going east until there is no more south, then take the west till you find south again. Follow south to find the entrance." Azurvi spoke quietly, reversing the song that was printed on the wall of the entrance. It had taken her a while to fully translate it was an old form of Atlantian that she wasn't that familiar with. She spent the rest of the trip in silence, the silence worried Doyle, but also the fact that she could get set off by something small, he was unsure of how stable she really was.

Upon coming out of the maze, surprisingly nothing terrible was happening, the sun was out now and the airship stood where it had been with the only change of the broken window, which Doyle immediately blamed on his former employer, even if it wasn't his fault. He still took joy in shifting the blame to an easy scapegoat.

"I am still afraid that they will not let me close to him, something I need to be in order to fix this."Azurvi commented as she was let go and touched the ground. "I only need a small amount of material to make the crystal itself, but getting close I fear will be the hard part of the entire process."

"I'm sure it will be fine."

"I can guarantee this will reverse what has been done. He will wake up fine as if nothing had really happened."

The next couple minutes he watched her walk around occasionally picking up a stone or a small handful of dirt and then proceeded to find a small puddle of water and dumped the contents in her hands in and the next moment the puddle began to evaporate, taking the stones and dirt with it, leaving a small crystal behind.

"The living crystal is complete, I can undo this now."

"See one step closer to redeeming yourself." Azurvi gave him a weak smile, but the look of being on edge and nervous never left her face as they made their way to the door, it opened with the same hiss as it did before, the metal felt the same, but the feeling of walking into the airship didn't feel as it did before.

"They'll be in the med lab driving themselves nuts." Doyle put his hand her shoulder and steered her toward the elevator. The ride was short and quiet as the flight was, she cradled the small gem in her hands. The gem itself was small, clear but seemed to pulse with a soft light within, almost like a beating heart.

The doors opened to reveal Doyle's brother in law, Solomon. His face displayed many emotions when his eyes met Vi's.

"I've come to help, please, let me just reverse this."

"You're certain you can do this?"

"Yes I am, I have had to do this a few times in my life."

It was very clear that he wasn't moving to let her by, Doyle looked to Azurvi and then to Solomon.

"I can probably guess nothing you've tried has worked and she's offering a different solution. Let her help, what's the worst that can happen."

"WHAT'S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN?" Solomon's temper finally surfaced as his hand shot out to pin the red head to the wall. In a split second Azurvi caught his wrist, her small hand surprisingly stopping the larger man. Doyle let the breath he'd been holding in out and looked to her, hoping that her next words were chosen wisely.

"I understand that something happened to your son. I am offering a cure, I know I was part of the problem at one point, but I'm trying to fix things. Make up for what I have done, which is going to be very difficult if you are going to be like this. Stop fearing outside influences and let someone in to offer a hand." Azurvi spoke clearly as she pulled his hand away from Doyle.

"You don't know what it's like to have a child..."

"Maybe I don't, but the followers of the temple were my charges as well. They looked to priestesses for guidance, protection and healing. I am offering what I do best. Let me help"

Solomon was quiet for a moment and Drew appeared behind him. Her husband's shouting had alerted her to the argument and had come to quiet them down.

"She is right, my love, we do need to let someone step in sometimes. We can't do it all ourselves."

"See? She's thinking clearly, come on doc. Just give her a shot." Doyle remarked as he edged by Solomon.

"Alright, one shot."Solomon sighed, stepping aside to let the priestess by.

Drew smiled, still feeling the same fear she had been for the past few hours in the pit of her stomach. She would give anything to hear Zak or see him running around the airship. She watched the small girl walk into the med lab, past Fiskerton who was seeming to be suffering depression without his brother and past a melancholy Komodo.

Zak was laying on the table, breathing softly, his hand still tightly wrapped around the crystal. She placed the crystal she'd created on his forehead and began repeating in Atlantian a soft chant, the crystal pulsed along with the speed of the chant and then began to increase as she stopped and ended with the last word, 'Siash'. The crystal glowed now with a light that got brighter and brighter, finally the crystal shattered and the light in the room faded. All was quiet as Drew stepped in.

"Did it work?"

"Mom?" a groggy voice responded to Drew. All at once Fiskerton, Doyle, Solomon and Komodo rushed to the table as Azurvi stepped back. Choruses of 'you're okay', 'don't scare me like that again.', 'welcome back' and the comforting sounds from Fiskerton and Komodo were heard as Zak peeked up to see Azurvi making herself small and out of the way.

"Azurvi..I'm sorry."Zak said quietly. The clamor of his family quieted at this remark.

"You don't need to, it was my fault."

"No for everything. I saw what you had to go through, and what you have to deal with now. It doesn't look like fun."

"It's my path and I have to walk it, no matter how rocky."

"This key, the other half. What does it have to do with the water exactly, I couldn't sort it in your mind."

"It combines with the water to allow you to soul dive into a god. To take control of the powers he controls."

"Then that's why it's needed for when Kur is woken up."

"Yes but you need the right incantation and rituals to soul dive. I don't know how you did it without any of that."

"I don't know either."

Drew looked thoughtful with this new information and walked over to the atlantian and looked closely at the burned on characters that had changed in the temple. "These have Sumarian bases, some of it doesn't make sense, but the language itself is based from Sumaria."

"So she is part of the key?" Doyle said tilting his head.

"It would appear so."

"Sooo what does that mean?" Zak said sliding off the table to the ground.

"It means we have to find out what those marks mean and what they have to do with the Kur stone."

"Also we can't let Argost find out that she's part of this. He was wrong about just needing the water."

"Also we will need that water back." Azurvi said quietly."it taints anything it touches, it could spread that influence of Kur on to the world again before he even awakens."


End file.
